• Course description

 
This course will explore the legal challenges presented by the Internet, communications and information technologies. The course will address, in particular, the interaction of emerging legal and technological rules for the Information Society of the 21st Century. Topics include governance, jurisdiction, intellectual property, privacy and electronic commerce.

• Course Materials

 
All course readings will be made available on this web page and through a class discussion group found at the Virtual Classroom Center which will be demonstrated during the first class session.

Students will need access to e-mail and the world wide web to participate in the course.  While e-mail and Internet access are available at the school, it is highly recommended that students obtain an Internet service provider account to assure reliable use throughout the semester.
 

• Class Meetings
 
Class will meet on Mondays and Thursdays in Rm. 310 from 1:40pm to 3:10pm.
• Class Participation and Preparation

 

All students are expected to prepare in advance for class. In the event that any of the links to course reading become outdated, students should either inform the instructor or must find an alternate path to the same reading.

Because the Internet often faces traffic slowdowns and the servers storing class readings may have occasional problems, students should plan to access course readings well in advance of class.

Please note that the rules governing admission to the bar in New York and the rules of the law school require each student to be in "good and regular attendance."  Any student who is repeatedly absent from class or regularly unprepared for class may become ineligible to receive course credit.

• Examination, In-class Problems and Grading
 
The course will have two or three in-class problems based on course readings and an open-book, final examination on December 20, 2001.   Each in-class problem will count for 10% of the course grade and the remainder of the grade will be based on the final examination.
• Office Hours

 

My office is Room 334 and I can also be reached by telephone at ext. 6843. I will regularly be available on Monday and Thursday both before and after class for office visits as well as by appointment.  In addition, I will hold "virtual office hours" via e-mail, 24 hours/day at < reidenberg@sprynet.com >.

• Course Reading Assignments

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The course readings are grouped around three themes: (I) Network Rule-Making; (II) Information Flows; and (III) E-commerce.  Each class session will address topics within these themes.  The readings for each theme and topic are indicated below.   During the course of the semester, some of the reading assignments may be prospectively modified. Hence, students should not try to read ahead of the current class topic.
 
 


PART I:    NETWORK RULE-MAKING

The first part of the course will focus on the sources and theories of rule-making for network activity.  The topics emphasize the technology and the relationship between technology and rule-making authority.

Topic 1:  The Internet and New Technologies (Aug. 27 & 30)

This unit will explore the basic composition of the Internet and some of the organizations involved in designing the infrastructure.

        Barry M. Leiner et. al , Brief history of the Internet  version 3.31 (4 Aug 2000)

ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824 (E.D. Pa. 1996) (only review the factual findings in Section II of the opinion)

UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy, The Growth & Development of Cyberspace Law in the United States: Highlights of the Past Decade (Mar. 10, 2000)

Browse the following sites:
           http://www.ietf.org
           http://www.isoc.org
           http://www.w3c.org
           http://www.icann.org
           Professor Jessica Litman's Collection of Sources

Topic 2:    Sources of Regulation  (Sept. 6 & 10)

This unit will examine the sources and theories of regulation for Internet activities.

         White House, A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce (July 1997)
 

Lawrence Lessig, Code and the Commons , Fordham Media Convergence Forum  (1999)

Joel R. Reidenberg, Governing Networks and Rule-Making in Cyberspace , 45 Emory L. J. 912 (1996)

IETF, The TAO of IETF   June 18, 2001

Joel R. Reidenberg, Lex Informatica: The Formulation of Information Policy Rules through Technology, 76 Texas L. Rev. 553 (1998)

          Joseph H. Sommer, Against Cyberanarchy , 15 Berkeley Tech. L. J. 1145 (2000)
 
Michael Froomkin, The Internet as a Source of Regulatory Arbitrage in Borders in      Cyberspace (Brian Kahin and Charles Nesson, eds.) (MIT Press, 1997)
Topic 3:    Jurisdiction    (Sept. 13, 17 & 20)

This unit will review the emerging principles of jurisdiction for activities on cross-border  networks.

Bensusan Restaurant Corp. v. King, 126 F.3d 25 (2nd Cir., 1997)

Playboy Enterprise v. Chuckleberry 939 F. Supp. 1032 (SDNY, 1996)
 

Zippo Manufcaturing Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, 952 F. Supp. 1119 (W.D. Pa, 1997)

Licra v. Yahoo! , TGI Paris ord. ref. (Nov. 20, 2001)
 

Joel R. Reidenberg, The Yahoo Case and the International Democratization of the Internet , Fordham Law & Economics Research Paper No. 11 (April 2001)

Brief of Amici Curiae in Support of Yahoo , Yahoo v. Licra, Case No. C 00-21275 JF (NDCA)
 

Italian Court of Cassation (Section V) Penal Judgment No. 4741 (2000)
         Materials on The Hague Conference on Private International Law
 

Recommended:
 

Peter D. Trooboff, The Hague Conference , Nat'l L. J. (July 23, 2001)
Michael Geist,  Is There a There There? Towards Greater Certainty for Internet Jurisdiction , 16 Berkeley Tech. L.J - (forthcoming)
Jack Goldsmith & Alan Sykes, The Internet and the Dormant Commerce Clause , 110 Yale Law Journal 785 (2001)
EU Treaties on Jurisdiction
Sept. 24:  In-class Problem
 
 



PART II:    INFORMATION FLOWS

 
The second part of the course will study the regulation of information flows on the Internet.  The readings will focus on the allocation of the rights to control information access, dissemination and use.

Topic 1:    Infrastructure Access (Oct. 1 & 4)

This unit will study key regulatory issues governing the access to the information infrastructure.

 
 U.S. v. Microsoft 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001)

Benton Foundation, The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Changing Communications Landscape (1996)

Skim: Telecommunications Act of 1996

Browse:  FCC Web Site

Mark A. Lemley & Lawrence Lessig, The End of End-to-End: Preserving the Architecture of the Internet in the Broadband Era , 48 UCLA L. Rev. 925 (2001)
 

Topic 2:     Intellectual Property   (Oct. 9 & 11)
 
This unit explores a number of key ownership issues for information technologies and information flows.
 
WIPO, Copyright and related rights
                  (review links to "further information" for those without a background in copyright law)

Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright and information policy in Kraig M. Hill et. al.,
GLOBALIZATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE 21ST CENTURY 299 (1999)

                 (read entire essay)

  A& M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., US Court of Appeals, 9th Cir., Docket #00-16401 (Feb. 12, 2001)

Gnutella News, What is Gnutella? (2001)  (read entire page)

                   Browse: ICANN  http://www.icann.org
                                ICANN Watch  http://www.icannwatch.org

UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy, MP3 File Sharing Disputes Continue in the Aftermath of   Recent Court Rulings (Aug. 10, 2001)

Julie Cohen, Some Reflections on Copyright Management Systems and Laws Designed to Protect Them , 12 Berkeley Tech. L. J. 161 (1997)
 
Mark Seftik, Shifting the Possible: How Trusted Systems and Digital Property Rights Challenge Us to Rethink Digital Publishing , 12 Berkeley Tech. L.J. (1997)
Topic 3:  Speech (Oct. 15, 18 & 22)
 
This unit will provide an overview of the Internet free speech and filtering debate.

        Oct. 15
 

Reno v. ACLU (CDA)  (read from the Section "Age Verification" through the end of O'Connor's concurrence)

Free Speech Coalition v. Reno , 198 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir., 1999) cert. granted  (read Sections I, IIA, IIB(5)-(7), IV.A; Judge Ferguson's dissent)

ACLU v. Reno Docket No. 99-1324 (3rd. Cir. 2001) (COPA)  (read Sections I.A-I.B, I.D, II.A)

Children's Internet Protection Act  (skim)

Oct 18

Mainstream Loudon v. Loudon County Library , 24 F. Supp. 552 (E.D. Va. 1998) (read entire decision as edited by Prof. Bell)

Dendrite, Inc. v. John Doe , N.J. App. Div.  A-2774-00T3, July 11, 2001 (read entire decision)
 

Oct. 22

EU Decision N° 276/1999/EC on promoting safer use of the Internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks ( 25 January 1999)

Jonathan Weinberg, Rating the Net , 19 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L. J. 453 (1997)
 
 

Oct. 25:  In-Class Problem
 
Topic 4:  Privacy (Oct. 29, Nov. 1 & 5)

This unit will look at selected data privacy issues.

        Oct. 29
 

US Dept. of Commerce, Privacy and Electronic Commerce (June 1998) (read Parts I & II)

Joel R. Reidenberg, Resolving Conflicting International Data Privacy Rules in Cyberspace, 52 STANFORD  L. REV. 1315 (2000) (read pp. 1325-1354)

Nov. 1

EU Directive 95/46/EC  (skim all, read Arts. 25-26)
Implementation of EU Directive 95/46/EC
Reidenberg & Schwartz, Online Services and Data Protection Law: Regulatory Responses (EUR-OP, 1998) (read Part III, pp. 121-153)

Nov. 5

Association of American Law Schools Panel: "The Walls Have Eyes (and Ears and Telescopic Lenses): Privacy and Computer-Mediated Surveillance" (January 8, 1998) (read Dreyfuss and Taylor articles)

Tom Wolverton, Egghead sale could crack on privacy issues ,  C/Net, Aug. 24, 2001
 
 

PART III:    E-COMMERCE

The last part of the course will focus on specific legal issues related to e-commerce.

Topic 1:    Electronic Transactions (Nov. 8 & 12)
 

Uniform Computer and Information Transaction Act
        NCCUSL Summary of UCITA

EU Directive 2000/31/EC on E-Commerce, O.J. L 178 (July 17, 2000)

EU Directive 97/7/EC on Distance Selling (20 May 1997)


Topic 2:    Electronic Signatures (Nov. 15)
 

Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000 , Publ. L. 106-229
EU Directive 1999/93/EC on E-signatures, O.J. L 13 (Jan. 19, 2000)
 
Topic 3:    Guest Lecture:  Professor Jeffery Colon  "Internet Taxation" (Nov. 19)
 

        Review the documents at:
        http://www.fordham.edu/law/faculty/colon/INTLTAX/treaselec.htm  and
        http://www.fordham.edu/law/faculty/colon/INTLTAX/oecdart5.pdf
 

Topic 4:    Spam (Nov. 26 & 29)

 

Lorrie Faith Cranor & Brian A. LaMacchia, Spam! , Comm. of A.C.M. (Aug. 1998)

EU Commission study: "Junk" e-mail costs internet users euro 10 billion a year worldwide" (Feb. 2, 2001)

David Sorkin, Spam laws: United States (2001) Spam Laws: European Union (2001)

Ferguson v. Friendfinder , Cal. Sup. Court, June 7, 2000


        Media3 Technologies v. MAPS and Vixie ,  Docket 00-CV-12524-MEL (Ma. 2001)

 
Dec. 3:  Class Review